This is from the Semiannual Report to Congress prepared by Social Security's Office of Inspector General. Note that 143,816 total allegations of fraud were received but there were only 228 indictments or criminal informations issued. That's a pretty low ratio. Note also the vast number of imposter scam allegations received. This is where the real fraud problem is at Social Security. (I received a call earlier this week from a former client who was the recent victim of imposter fraud. How long will it take before his benefits are restored?)
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Also, why is Gail Ennis still the Inspector General?
From The Hill:
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) argued with a Social Security official over claims of backlogs in a Wednesday hearing about post-pandemic teleworking policies.
Boebert asked Oren “Hank” McKnelly, an executive counselor for the Social Security Administration, if the administration monitored its employees’ output and hours if workers are logging on from home.
McKnelly assured Boebert social security employees are “subjected to the same performance management processes” whether they are teleworking or working from the office. ...
“We have systems in place that our managers use to schedule, assign and track workloads,” McKnelly said, adding that if employees work virtually, they must be responsive to various forms of communication.
Boebert continued, asking the official why the backlog of social security applicants has increased from 41,000 to 107,000.
“We’ve been historically underfunded for a number of years now,” McKnelly fired back, to which the congresswoman disagreed.
McKnelly said in the past 10 years, the administration has seen an increase of more than 8 million beneficiaries and experienced the lowest staffing levels ever at the end of fiscal 2022.
“That’s a math problem,” he said. “If you have those workloads increasing and you don’t have the staff to take care of those workloads, you’re going to have the backlogs that you’re talking about, representative.” ...
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley moved one step closer Tuesday to becoming the next Social Security commissioner, a role that would become increasingly difficult as the program inches closer to insolvency during the next decade.
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee voted, 17-10, to send O’Malley’s nomination to the floor, though it’s not clear how soon the entire chamber will vote on confirmation. All the panel’s Democrats and Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina voted to advance his nomination. ...
The Social Security Administration has issued its 2023 Annual Statistical Supplement, a huge compendium of all the statistical information you could ask for concerning Social Security programs. Here's one excerpt (footnotes omitted):
Number of SSA full-time staff and work years, fiscal years 1995–2023
| Year | Full-time permanent staff a | Total work years b |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 62,504 | 67,063 |
| 1996 | 62,133 | 66,726 |
| 1997 | 61,224 | 69,378 |
| 1998 | 59,943 | 67,210 |
| 1999 | 59,752 | 66,459 |
| 2000 | 60,434 | 65,521 |
| 2001 | 61,490 | 65,562 |
| 2002 | 61,914 | 65,742 |
| 2003 | 63,569 | 65,343 |
| 2004 | 63,186 | c 66,154 |
| 2005 | 63,696 | d 68,026 |
| 2006 | 61,692 | 66,878 |
| 2007 | 60,206 | 63,939 |
| 2008 | 61,920 | 64,358 |
| 2009 | 65,203 | 67,170 |
| 2010 | 67,548 | 70,758 |
| 2011 | 64,744 | 69,936 |
| 2012 | 62,943 | 67,208 |
| 2013 | 59,823 | 64,601 |
| 2014 | 62,956 | 64,006 |
| 2015 | 63,466 | 67,004 |
| 2016 |
62,685 | 65,798 |
| 2017 | 61,250 | 63,957 |
| 2018 | 61,011 | 64,095 |
| 2019 | 60,450 | 64,576 |
| 2020 | 60,364 | 62,291 |
| 2021 | 58,952 | 61,830 |
| 2022 | 56,907 | 60,570 |
| 2023 | 60,026 | 61,771 |
